The Garden of Knowledge

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

11 Safar 1446/16 August 2024

All praise is due to Allah, the Cherisher, Sustainer, Nourisher and Provider of the entire creation. May peace, blessings and salutations be upon our Beloved Prophet Muhammed ﷺ.

Every success, every richness and all wealth possessed by a person is from the blessings and favors of the Almighty Allah ﷻ. Everything a person possesses is a deposit/trust (أمانة) which has been left in our care by Allah ﷻ. We all will be answerable to Allah ﷻ for the manner in which we earned our success and riches and on how we used and disposed of it. It is mentioned in a hadith found in Sunnan at Tirmidhi, 2416:

حَدَّثَنَا حُسَيْنُ بْنُ قَيْسٍ الرَّحَبِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا عَطَاءُ بْنُ أَبِي رَبَاحٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ، عَنِ ابْنِ مَسْعُودٍ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏ “‏ لاَ تَزُولُ قَدَمَا ابْنِ آدَمَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مِنْ عِنْدِ رَبِّهِ حَتَّى يُسْأَلَ عَنْ خَمْسٍ عَنْ عُمْرِهِ فِيمَا أَفْنَاهُ وَعَنْ شَبَابِهِ فِيمَا أَبْلاَهُ وَمَالِهِ مِنْ أَيْنَ اكْتَسَبَهُ وَفِيمَ أَنْفَقَهُ وَمَاذَا عَمِلَ فِيمَا عَلِمَ ‏”

Ibn Mas’ud narrated that the Messenger ﷺ said: “The feet of the son of Adam shall not move from before his Lord on the Day of Judgement, until he is asked about five things: About his life and what he did with it, about his youth and what he wore it out in, about his wealth and how he earned it, and spent it upon, and what he did with what he knew.”

According to Imam at Tirmidhi, the above mentioned hadith is weak on the basis that it is not certain that the hadith was narrated by Ibn Masood except through the narration of Hussain bin Qais who is known to be a weak narrator. However there are certain scholars that authenticated this hadith. Nevertheless, even if this hadith is weak we do not discard the hadith, rather we make use of the hadith to understand the importance of ensuring that all aspects of our life are within accordance of Shariah, whether it be how he spent our youth, how we lived or even how we disposed of our wealth.

Nobody would deny that the precepts and ordinances of any holy law (Shariah) enacted for the benefit of humanity are intended to achieve specific goals set by Allah ﷻ. It is mentioned in chapter 23, verse 115 of the Quran:

أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّمَا خَلَقْنَـٰكُمْ عَبَثًا وَأَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنَا لَا تُرْجَعُونَ

“Did ye then think that We had created you in jest, and that ye would not be brought back to Us (for account)?”

Based on an inductive investigation (Istiqra) of numerous indicators in the Quran and authentic Sunnah, we can conclude that the rules of Islamic Shariah are based on wisdom (حكمة) and causes (أسباب) that focus on the common interest and benefit of society and individuals which to many is regarded as the primary objective of Shariah. (Ibn Ashur, 2006, p. 5)

May Allah accept our efforts from us and grant us understanding In Sha Allah!

References

(Ibn Ashur, 2006, p. 5) – Ibn Ashur, M. al-Tahir. (2006). Treatise on Maqasid al-Shariah (M. E.-T. El-Mesawi, Trans.; p. 5). The International Institute of Islamic Thought